Box Adds Apps for Android Tablets, RIM PlayBook

One of the key desires of businesses moving documents to the cloud is the ability to access them from all manner of devices.

With that in mind, Box is adding support for both Android tablets and Research in Motion’s PlayBook. The company already has apps for the iPhone, iPad, Android phones and WebOS, among others.

“Philosophically we want to be anywhere our customers are,” Box CEO Aaron Levie said in an interview. While Apple’s tablets are the most popular, Levie said that the company is seeing its customers seek support for a wide range of mobile devices. In many cases, companies are simply letting workers use whatever device they have, as long as there is a secure means of doing so.

“When we look at our enterprise customer environments, the diversity of the technology they are using is really remarkable,” he said. “They are not picking winners.”

In addition to adding the new tablet apps, Box is also overhauling its mobile Web site with new HTML5-based features. Over time, the company hopes there is more convergence toward the mobile Web.

Box and other cloud storage companies are increasingly finding themselves competing against the titans of tech, including Apple, Google, Microsoft and Amazon. The company hopes its broad support for all manner of devices will help it stand out from companies that are primarily interested in promoting their own platform.